Sustainable Project Management Methods and Techniques for Sustainable Games Development Essay Example for Free

Sustainable Project Management Methods and Techniques for Sustainable Games Development Essay If organizations want to incorporate sustainability into their strategy and culture, sustainability principles need to be integrated in projects and project management. The purpose of this paper is to critically reflect on the importance of considering sustainability in projects and evaluate appropriate methods and techniques for embedding sustainability principles in project management. This essay is organized in four main parts. The importance of considering sustainability in project is critically analyzed in the next part. Methods and Techniques for the integration of sustainability in project management are evaluated on the third part of the essay. This will involve practical examples from the workplace and case studies focused on new media projects, in particular, the development of games and applications. Concluding remarks are presented in the last part of the essay. 2. The importance of sustainability in project management The debate about the importance of considering sustainability in project management cannot be appropriately discussed without understanding the need for corporate sustainability and its drivers. Project management is intrinsically embedded in the business environment and we cannot to evaluate the significance of sustainable projects management without analyzing the importance on embedding sustainability into business. Both go hand in hand. Sustainability in business aims to achieve long term financial success while contributing to economic and social growth, and reducing its impact in the environment. Corporate sustainability includes three dimensions of needs, known as the â€Å"triple bottom line†; economic prosperity; social equity and quality of life; ecological resource preservation. Corporate sustainability can be defined as â€Å" a business approach that creates long-term shareholder value by embracing opportunities and managing risks derived from economic, environmental and social developments† ( Dow Jones Sustainability indexes, 2011). While the issue of sustainable business, often referred under the â€Å"green† umbrella, has been the object of abundant literature, there has been little emphasis on understanding how the principles of sustainability apply to project and project management until recently. Taking into account the pivotal role of projects in the shaping of products and services within organization, it is surprising that these to concepts- sustainability and project management- have not had more relevance in the discussion of corporate sustainability. As Maltzman and Shirley rightly question in their introduction to Green Project Management (2011, p. xxi): â€Å"Projects are where business ideas become reality, after all. Projects, by definition, use resources. Shouldn’t projects, therefore, be a key are of any focus on green business? † The business case of sustainability has the same multifaceted approach as its definition. The main drivers of green business and projects fall in the 3 main areas considered in the â€Å"triple bottom line approach- social, environmental and financial- plus an added area of legislative drivers. In the following four sub-segments we will analyzed these drivers of from a business and a project management point of view. 2. 1Environmental drivers The environmental sphere of business is related to the management of resources required to produce a product or a service. The two main environmental drivers for organizations are to decrease the impact in the environment generated by harmful waste and to achieve a better use of resources. Sustainable waste management can bring financial benefits to business by reducing the cost of dealing with the impact of the damage to the environment degradation; with regards to resource use, the focus is on efficiency. The less materials they are use, the greater the positive environmental impact. This also applies to human resources and time management. Minimizing waste has also positive financial effects because it drives costs down. Efficient use of resources and time is a vital part of project management, it has been suggested (Maltzman, Shirley 2011) that the discipline of project management always has been concerned on how to efficiently use resources even if that concern did not come from a sustainability background. Good project managers will always try to reduce cost and use resources in the most efficient manner. The only thing that is missing is to add that environmental layer to it. As Gill Friend clearly outline on his book The Truth About Green Business (2009) that sustainable business are not just about the environment, it presents a whole new way of seeing business and it brings a new range of direct opportunities to make money. There is an increasing social interest on sustainability; therefore, there is an increasing demand on products and services that take sustainability into account. 2. 2Social drivers The management of corporate social sustainability is more widely known as Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). Two Tomorrowsâ„ ¢ (2009) explains that CSR is about â€Å"how businesses align their values and behaviour with the expectations and needs of stakeholders not just customers and investors, but also employees, suppliers, communities, regulators, special interest groups and society as a whole. â€Å" There are many business benefits that can be achieved by taking an ethical and socially responsible approach within the organization. It could help increase brand reputation and value within its stakeholders. Intensive research over 3 year covering 300 firms (Hillman, Kleim, 2001) concluded that investing in stakeholder management may be complementary to shareholder value creation and may indeed provide a basis for competitive advantage as important resources and capabilities may be created that differentiate a firm from competitors. As Maltzman and Shirley (2011, p. 3-25) explain that corporate social responsibility is an integral part of project management. Project managers are at the forefront of business activities and at the leading edge of change within organizations so â€Å"who better to emphasize CSR, particularly if it isn’t in the corporations DNA? †. 2. 3Economic drivers When we talk about economic sustainability we are not only talking about financial capital or tangible capital; economic sustainability it also takes into account intangible capital such as reputation. Tangible effects could be the cost reduction achieved through improved environmental, health and safety performance or revenue increases due to a raise on sales caused by the market opportunities for sustainable products and services. Intangible effects referred to in the figure below (Salzmann et. al. ) as value constructs, do no improve the revenue per se, but they do have significant positive effects that can, indeed, be utilize to achieve financial gains to organizations. The same principles can be applied to project management. Figure 1: Systemization of value drivers and value constructs (Salzmann et al. 2. 4Legal drivers From the facts presented in the previous sections, one might conclude that they create a sufficient business case for sustainability on their own accord. However legislation is still one of the key drivers for organizations to incorporate green business practices. While some voices have raise the financial burden that following this legislations can bring to c ompanies, numerous studies (Greenstone, List and Syverson, 2010; Goodstein, 1994; Jaffe et al. , 1995; Meyer, 1995) have found these economic effects are limited in scope and duration and are fewer in number than previously believed. Moreover it has been empirically demonstrated (Meyer, 1995) that complying with legislations contributes to cost savings by avoiding the financial penalties for not complying and, in some case, by achieving incentives. Regulation can fuel innovation that improve productivity, increase efficiency, and provide substantial cost savings 3. Sustainable game development projects In this section we will evaluate different methods and techniques that help project managers to incorporate sustainability in their projects. Practical examples and tools will be provided focused in the area of games software development. I have chosen this industry not only because we can supplement the research with useful personal work experience, but more importantly because a lot of the discussion on sustainable project manager has been centred in the type of project and we believe that sustainability considerations can and must be embedded in the PM cycle of any project. 3. 1Methods for sustainable project management 3. 1. 1Lean games development: an Agile approach As we have seen in previous section, sustainability principles talk about reducing waste and increasing resource efficiency and understanding stakeholders to drive value. Poppendieck explains (2003) how lean thinking is based on a deep understanding on what it adds value to the project and to the customer, the importance of rapid flow and using the teams capabilities to their best potential, in other words lean thinking is all about sustainability. While lean thinking has its origin in manufacturing, it also can be applied to other industries. In the world of software development, that includes games software, Agile methodologies provide a new framework for the application of lean thinking to software development projects. Lightweight software development methods started to appear in the mid-1970s as a reaction to the inefficiency of the traditional methodology in software development. These are now typically referred to as agile methodologies, after the Agile Manifesto was published in 2001. There are many correspondences between Lean thinking and Agile. David Harvey concludes his essay Lean, Agile by saying : â€Å"the insight of agile, in getting back to fundamentals of how we can work together to deliver things of human as well as commercial value, is compelling; the thrill of lean lies in the discovery that we are not alone. Understanding lean principles and applying agile methodologies will help project managers to incorporate sustainability to software and games development projects. 3. 1. 2Life cycle thinking: It is not over until long after is over Essential to successfully relate sustainability to project management is to understand the cradle to crate philosophy, and to apply sustainability to project life cycle, from the project beginning through closure and beyond. The project life cycle of sustainability should include another phase after the project completion. It can be defined as the complete cycle of a project that includes not only the beginning of the project through to implementation, but also beyond the defined parameters of the projects (Maltzman, Shirley 2011). Dick and Naumann (2010) proposed a definition of green software development that applies the principles of life cycle thinking and that can be also applied to Games Development (GD): â€Å"Green and Sustainable Software Engineering is the art of developing green and sustainable software with a green and sustainable software engineering process.

The Storm: An Inner Reflection Essays -- Emotions Psychology Essays

The Storm: An Inner Reflection Memories are all we have sometimes, but what if memories bring out unwelcome feelings? In Romesh Gunesekera's short story "Ranvali," a young lady goes back to her father's old holiday bungalow and begins to discover new feelings toward her beloved Communist father. The story is set in an idyllic bungalow in Ranvali, by the coast of India. Theorists such as Roland Barthes would argue that setting in modern narratives "no longer need meaning: they simply are: that is their meaning." (qtd in Chatman 145). However, in "Ranvali," the storm that besieges the bungalow while the young lady is there clearly mimics her thoughts and gives the reader a greater sense of the inner turmoil that she must be going through. It can thus be shown that the storm is an essential part of the setting that Gunesekera uses to evoke certain feelings in the readers of "Ranvali." In the story, the storm mimics the narrator's inner turmoil at discovering new feelings about her father. But is the storm part of setting? Chatman makes a distinction between existents - characters and setting. For Chatman, "setting 'sets the character off'; it is the place and collection of objects 'against which' his actions and passions appropriately emerge" (Chatman 134). The storm is part of the description of the 'place' where the story unfolds. The memories of the narrator's father, which may be considered the 'actions and passions' within the story, emerge before and after the occurrence of the storm. The storm is thus part of the background to which the events in "Ranvali" occur. Chatman also gives three criteria for being a character - presence, being named and importance (Chatman 139). The storm in "Ranvali" is clearly not explicitly... ...der is given a definite analogy to how she might be feeling. Gunesekera's use of this narrative device as opposed to using the narrator to describe her emotions makes the reader sympathetic to the narrator's plight in an almost unconscious way. Although the storm is part of the setting, it subconsciously draws a connection to the narrator's inner thoughts. The reader thus can imagine that a storm rages within her mind, with thoughts about her father's idealism conflicting with her love for him. Without this narrative device of the storm, the story would have been much impoverished, as the final effect of "Ranvali" would have been much reduced. Works Cited Chatman, Seymour, "Existents" Story and Discourse: Narrative Structure in Fiction and Film. Ithaca: Cornell UP, 1978. 131-145. Gunesekera, Romesh. "Ranvali." Monkfish Moon. London: Granta, 1992: 89-102.

High school diploma Essay

I did 4 years in Senn High School and there were a lot of problems in school. Dropping out of high school is a huge issue for many teens today. As society demands hardworking graduates with good character, the nation should require keeping teens from dropping out of school and improving student’s education for the future. There are many causes for why teenagers drop out of school. But there are few solutions for allowing them to finish high school with high diplomas. Pregnancies, drugs, gang involvement and bullying play a big role in the dropout rate. How can high schools help students to earn their high school diplomas and stop dropping out of school? Many kids attend High schools that have a different culture, or way of doing things. I will always remember my years of high school. However, I feel my high school years have been the most memorable. I strongly believe that high school is the open door, into the rest of my life. The last days of my high school career are fast approaching and I can only imagine how I’ll be feeling when I step out of Senn High School for the very last time. Throughout these four years, I have felt a lot of requirements about graduating high school. I didn’t think that the time to graduate would come soon enough. I came across a great interest essay that starts with the question of why smart kids are, on average, low status in the high school environment. The short answer is that being popular in that environment is a full time job, and smart kids, even if they want to be popular, want to do other things as well. The author goes on to make quite a lot of interesting, understanding, and disturbing points about how children are brought up. What bothers me is not that the kids are kept in prisons, but that they aren’t told about it, and the prisons are run mostly by the person who is confined in a prison. In my high school Spanish class we were supposed to speak in Spanish. I don’t think any of us knew Spanish well enough to make our way through this huge book. Like the rest of the class, I just study the notes. When we were given a test on the book, I noticed that the questions sounded odd. They were full of long words that our teacher wouldn’t have used. Where had these questions come from? From the notes, it turned out. The teacher was using them too and we were all just pretending.

Multiple Personality Disorder - 1920 Words

Multiple Personality Disorder One particular disorder in the medical field called Multiple Personality Disorder, has caused controversy between those who believe it is real and those who think it is purely part of an individual’s imagination. Multiple Personality Disorder is characterized by the existence of two or more distinct alters or personality states that persistently have control over a person. For those who believe strongly in its existence, it poses very real consequences and hardships. Multiple Personality Disorder has many causes, symptoms, and treatments; unfortunately, those who do not take it seriously use it as a scape for other undiagnosed problems. Many people may wonder what defines Multiple Personality Disorder. This†¦show more content†¦While there is no confirmed cause of MPD, the psychological theory about how the condition develops is as a response to childhood trauma. More than 60 thousand cases of MPD have been diagnosed in America and 97% the victims diagnosed report childhood trauma, a combination of emotional, physical and sexual abuse. The victim then, after learning to disassociate themselves from the event will quickly learn this as a defense mechanism for other problems big or small. The well-defined personalities aid diverse roles in helping the individual cope with life’s dilemmas. Additionally, â€Å"if the multiple personality disorder is caused by childhood trauma it is likely remembered only as a series of perceptual information- fleeting images, olfactory, auditory, or olfactory sensations†. People with this disorder are most likely to forget most of their past and what happened in the trauma. They only remember few details of what happened because they were childs and do not have the capacity to put all together. Other main causes of Multiple Personality Disorder include insomnia, stroke, Alzheimer’s, and narcolepsy. Psychotherapists and researchers conclude that part of what is happening is the isolation of damaging information. Instead of distributing space with the rest of the memories, the disturbing incidences are crammed into their own little area, and the only way they can be accessed is through fragmented and incoherent neural pathways†. As the years haveShow MoreRelatedMultiple Personality Disorder (MPD) Essay example756 Words   |  4 Pages Multiple Personality Disorder (MPD) Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID) nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;Multiple Personality Disorder (MPD), which is now called Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID), is a Dissociative Disorder. This disorder is when a person has two or more distinct personalities that often control the person’s behavior. 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